MIXING PARIS-GREEN. 209 



can walk beside a row. It is not necessary to cover the 

 whole potato-leaf with the green ; but it is better to pnt it on 

 pretty thoroughly. You will find that the green colors the 

 plaster even in this proportion, — one part to a hundred. It 

 colors it quite distinctly, and you can see it on the potato- 

 vine ver}^ readily. You do not want to put much on : it is a 

 waste of the poison, and a waste of time, to do so. All yo i 

 want is the slightest possible dusting ; nothing more nor less 

 than that. 



I will say a word about mixing. A great many people 

 have trouble in mixing Paris-green. They are terribly afraid 

 of it : it is poison^ and they do not like to handle it at all. 

 The best way I have found is to take a large wrapping-paper 

 (heavy brown paper), as large as you can conveniently handle, 

 — say as large as " The Boston Journal." Your plaster should 

 be sifted to get all the lumps out of it. Spread a layer of 

 plaster on the paper, and then spread the green as thoroughly 

 over it as you can carelessly ; then take your paper (one end 

 in each hand), and move it from side to side by an alternate 

 rising and falling motion, rolling the mixture from side to 

 side until you cannot see a particle of plaster nor a particle 

 of green. It does not take a great while to do it. You 

 should not take too much at a time. The quantity will 

 depend on the size of your paper. A sheet of paper as large 

 as " The Journal " would, perhaps, profitably use twenty 

 pounds of plaster at a time. When it is perfectly homogene- 

 ous in color, then it is in a condition to use. The plaster will 

 be washed off by the first rain, more or less ; but the green 

 is more persistent than most people suppose. Being a very 

 fine, impalpable powder, it remains on the somewhat uneven 

 surface of the foliage of the potato ; after the plaster is 

 washed off, the green is still there, and will continue to 

 kill the larvse of the potato-bugs -that eat it. The theory 

 of its action is, that the larva eats the green, and it must 

 eat it in order to produce any result. It does not hurt the 

 larva to put Paris-green upon him, it does not kill him : it 

 must enter into his circulation to do that. One atom of the 

 green, as I have said, will kill him, and is just as good as a 

 pound. The same effect will be produced on any worm that 

 eats leaves in the same • way. The currant-worm and the 

 gooseberry-worm eat the leaf in the same way : their mouth 



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